Read Online Beast in Shining Armor by Cassandra Gannon - Free Book Online Page A

just wasn’t fair that he was so
attractive, considering his true nature.  You should be able to look at him and see he was a beast.  His handsomeness was false advertising.
    She
swallowed hard.  “I think it means I need be helpful if I’m going to find the
sword.”
    “Helpful?” 
Avenant repeated skeptically.  “Helpfulness is not a princely quality. 
Trust me.  I’ve been one all my life and I’ve never helped anyone.”
    “Which
is why I deposed you, remember?”  She snapped the journal closed and arched a
brow.  “Maybe Adam expects better from the Northlands’ true ruler.  Which is
what I plan to give him.”
    “ I am the true ruler of the Northlands.”  He snarled.  “And now is probably not
the best time to discuss how you stole my crown.  We’re trying to not to kill
each other, remember?”
    “I
didn’t steal anything.  You’re the one who stole.  The royal treasury
was ransacked, Avenant.  It took me months to get enough gold together to pay
the workers.  Did you even think about them?”
    He
glowered down at her.  “Even with just the two of here, you still can’t admit…?”
    An
agonized scream cut through their bickering.  The horrible sound echoed off the
hard walls, coming from a dozen directions at once.  It was impossible to know
who’d made it, but there was no mistaking the fact that somebody had just died
in a lot of pain.
    Belle
glanced up at Avenant, her heart hammering.  “I think it was ahead of us.”  She
whispered.
    He
nodded.  The hallway forked off in two new directions about ten yards ahead. 
Both corridors glowed with the same otherworldly blue light.  Avenant chose the
one on the right and crouched down to examine the floor.  His fingers brushed
against the icy surface.  “Someone came this way.  They disrupted the frost.” 
He stood up and brushed his hands together, heading back to her.  “I don’t
think that path leads to anything good.  Shall we try left?”
    Belle’s
lips parted as she suddenly realized why he’d taken his time before entering
the maze.  “You let the others go first so they’d trigger any traps.”  She
gasped.  “So they’d warn you which way not to go.”
    “If
they’re going to be here, they might as well fulfill Grandpa Adam’s wishes and
be helpful.”
    “You
are un believable! ”
    “I
know.”  He nodded.  “Wait until you see me naked.”
    Belle
made an aggravated sound.  “I can’t believe I tried to work with you.”  She unfastened
the string connecting them and marched down the corridor to the right, towards
the source of the sound.
    Avenant
swore.  “Where are going?”
    “I’m
going to see if I can help whoever was hurt, you ass.”
    “Why?” 
He actually sounded confused.
    “ Why? ”
    “Why
would you want to help someone who’s out to steal your crown?”
    “Because
I’m not a beast!”  She shouted.  “Look, you do whatever you want.  I’m going
this way.”
    He
cursed and stalked after her.  “This is a waste of time.  Whoever screamed is already
dead.  You know that, Belle.  You heard it.”
    “I
need to be sure.”
    “Goddamn
it.”  Avenant caught up with her.  “You drive me insane.  Do not take
this off.”  He clipped the cord onto her belt again, reconnecting them.  “I’ll
go first.”  He maneuvered his way ahead of her.  “The last thing I need is for you
to go down here and end up dead.”
    “As
if you’d care.”
    “You
have that stupid journal with the instructions, remember?  I need you to find
the sword and the sword to get my throne.”
    Well,
that didn’t make any sense.  Avenant topped her by a foot and could freeze her
solid with a wave of his hand.  If he wanted the journal, he could just take
it.  Hell, it had been written by his ancestor and she’d tracked it down in the
royal library, so it was sort of his, anyway.  Belle frowned up at him, trying
to figure out his game.  She was used to spotting